Knock, knock. Stop asking who’s there and just answer the frickin’ door would you…

When opportunity comes knocking, what will you do? You know what I mean? When that one chance you’ve been waiting for drops right in front of you, will you grab it? Or will you watch it pass by?

It’s interesting to witness just how many people properly sh!te themselves when the one thing they’ve wanted their whole lives is there, waiting, tantalisingly close. In fact, in so many cases they sh!te themselves so badly they watch it slip past, like a train you can’t be bothered to run for ’cause you’ve already decided you missed it and then you stand and watch as you realise you could have made it easily before making a run for it just to watch it pull away after you’ve taken 3 or 4 steps. You know that feeling?

And the reason why people proper sh!te themselves about grabbing their chance is very, very often the same. It’s because rather than imagining success we imagine failure.

How can you possibly feel confident about taking your opportunity if, inside your mind, you imagine the consequences of falling short, missing the mark or, the ultimate slap in the mush, being told you’re not quite good enough. That’s just not a recipe for confidence!

But there is a relatively simple fix. I’m not going to be as ‘positive thinky’ as to just tell you to imagine success (although I will point out that tactic does work), I want to give you a slightly different way to think;

You have control over nothing but you. The ‘mark’ that you can fall short of, people’s opinions of what’s good and what’s not are not your concern. Being good enough is simply not your judgement to make! I will add here, that same rationale applies to being good enough, slim enough, clever enough etc etc.

When opportunity comes you have one job; be and do your absolute best. Grab your opportunity and just bring the best you out to play. Why would you do anything else? See yourself inside your mind, free of inhibition, performing to the best of your ability then be that ‘you’. If you can do that, no matter what the outcome of this endeavour, you can walk away proud, knowing you could have done nothing else, and wiser, with the knowledge of experience tucked safely away inside.

When I started HeadStrong I had nothing. Little experience, no reputation, no one knew or cared who I was or what I thought I could do. But I knew what I thought I was capable of. So I went out and did the best I could. I always have. I’m not special, I’m not unique and I’m much better now than I was then and I know I still have much to learn. I just grabbed an opportunity and did my best.

What opportunities can you make the most of when you do the same?

The last three words of your BreakThrough… Just. Be. You. Remember them.